Scoopy’s Notebook, Week of April 13, 2017

David Peel, onstage second from right, singing at the old Tompkins Square Park bandshell. Photo by Clayton Patterson

R.I.P. Peel: A memorial for David Peel will be held Sat., April 15, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the East Village at Peter Jarema Funeral Home, at 129 E. Seventh St., followed by “a singing tribute” across the street in Tompkins Square Park. Burial will be Monday morning at Calverton Cemetery on Long Island,

The F.B.I. once thought David Peel was John Lennon. Photo by Paul DeRienzo

departing from Peter Jarema at 9:30 a.m. It’s out in Riverhead, Exit 69 on the Long Island Expressway, and the trip takes about one-and-half to two hours. … Peel was a big fan of The Villager, as he once told us on Avenue A. Since David Peel was not his given name, we always wondered — that is, after seeing the actor David Peel in the 1960 camp horror flick “The Brides of Dracula” — if the English thespian was his inspiration, but Peel the musician told us no.

Girl vs. Bull, Round II: With a petition by change.org and virtually every female politician in the city arrayed behind the “Fearless Girl,” Mayor Bill de Blasio O.K.’d the temporary statue’s remaining on Wall St. through Feburary 2018. But now the sculptor of the iconic “Charging Bull,” Arturo Di Modica, has famed civil-rights attorney Norman Siegel in his corner. At a press conference on Wednesday, Di Modica and Siegel said the artwork of the girl must be moved and Di Modica compensated financially. Siegel said the “Fearless Girl” staring down the big bronze bull “took a positive image and made it a negative image.” Or as he put it, “The comments by de Blasio made [the bull] a negative force.” Specifically, under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, Di Modica “has a right to his integrity and reputation,” the attorney said. There are other points they will pursue, such as why the Department of Transportation as opposed to the Parks Department approved the artwork. If it was done by Parks, Siegel said, it would have had to come to Community Board 1 for a public review. At the press conference, Siegel said, “I was asked, ‘Are you against women?’ … I’ve been for women all my life. … I got one hate call,” he added. “One woman told me I’m an a—hole and ‘Go f— yourself.’ We have her number — it was recorded on the phone,” he said, with a chuckle. There are so many advertising firms and law firms in the city that suffer from gender inequality, Siegel said, that the “Fearless Girl” could be placed in front of a different one every day. So then, it could be a movable “Fearless Girl”? Yes, Siegel offered. Well, anyway, it will be an interesting case!

Dr. J.

Dr. J not in the house: Well, apparently it wasn’t a slam dunk. … We hear from a Sixth Precinct source that Julius Erving had been expected to attend Thursday’s WNBA draft at the Samsung 837 hub, at W. 13th St. and Washington St. in the Meatpacking District. However — faster than a Dr. J drive to the hoop for a tomahawk slam — he pulled out at the last minute. Speaking of the Samsung hub, where you can don V.R. goggles, was the Doctor’s planned visit just a case of “virtual reality”? No word on why the former NBA superstar couldn’t make it.

Possible drop-in center drama? It sounds like David Poster of the Christopher St. Patrol and Grove St. Block Association residents won’t be the only ones at a community outreach meeting on Thurs., April 20, at 6:30 p.m. that the Church of St. Luke in the Fields is holding at its Laughlin Hall, at Hudson St. near Christopher St. Mustafa Sullivan, the executive director of FIERCE, told us that he’ll be attending the discussion, too. FIERCE represents the L.G.B.T. youth who hang

Mustafa Sullivan, director of FIERCE, will sound off on possibly aborted plans for an L.G.B.T. drop-in center on Christopher St.

out on Christopher St. and the pier. The church is trying to figure out how to use new funds it’s getting from its new residential tower at 100 Barrow St., but apparently is no longer committed to building a “mission center” for gay youth to drop in for a meal, shower or bed for the night. A few years ago, the church had said that was the plan, but now is apparently reconsidering. At an initial, hastily called outreach meeting on April 5, the patrol and some local residents made it clear to consultants from Wellspring — who have been retained by the church for its outreach campaign — that they don’t want the shelter, and there was talk about gay youth not really hanging out on Christopher St. as much anymore. But FIERCE was not invited to that meeting. Meanwhile, Carl Siciliano, director of the Harlem-based Ali Forney Center, which provides housing for homeless gay youth, said the fact that not as many L.G.B.T. kids have been coming to that part of the Village lately — if indeed true — is no doubt just seasonal. Yet, he admitted he hasn’t been down around Christopher St. lately, so he declined to comment further on the record specifically about that. As for the Ali Forney Center, he said, “We’ve got 80 kids a day coming to us. In 2016, we saw 20 percent more people looking for help from us than we did the year before. We have 120 beds all over the city. We have a waiting list of 200 people. There continues to be a large number of homeless kids in New York.” He added, “I think there’s a correlation between the type of political climate we’re seeing under Donald Trump,where people are emboldened to hate. A lot of kids are coming here from the South, from gay-conversion camps.” Siciliano’s organization’s new Bea Arthur Residence, on E. 13th St., is slated to open by this June or July, he said.

Advertisers from our print edition

Comments are often moderated.

We appreciate your comments and ask that you keep to the subject at hand, refrain from use of profanity and maintain a respectful tone to both the subject at hand and other readers who also post here. We reserve the right to delete your comment.

One Response to Scoopy’s Notebook, Week of April 13, 2017

While I love the Fearless Girl, the Bull artist is correct: she makes his bull into the bad guy, and that's not how it was not meant to be. Then again, maybe that's what you get when you put something in place without permission… maybe he should have never been given retroactive approval.

Both artworks deserve better. I fear the only solution is to move them both. Sure would be safer for the tourists. Personally, I think the Girl should be standing up to the stock market, not a false-idol idle bull, and since Wall St. is closed off (such symbolism!), there's plenty of room to put her front-n-center, just south of Federal Hall.

Both artists cast their lot with people who are only out to make money. Gender doesn't matter. Many could have told them it was gonna end badly one day. A pox on both their capitalist houses.